IAA Day 1

The beginning of our residency with Halldór Úlfarsson at the Icelandic Academy of the Arts in Reykjavik

Up to this point, the cellos used Vidsonix Ghost transducers (along with a 50W speaker). We wanted to try out the larger Vidsonix Phantom transducer, as it has roughly an extra octave of lower frequency response. The challenge was fitting them onto the instruments as they are much heavier. We began by experimenting with placing the cello’s spike onto the transducer, which gave some great results.

We also designed a new style of mounting bracket for the transducers. Previously we use a plywood brace, clamped across the front of the cello. This worked well but was cumbersome. We experimented with the best points to mount the new transducer, and decided that close to the edge of the cello sounded best. The edge of the cello isn’t a very resonant point, but for a feedback cello this is great as it gives a more complex path from the transducer to the strings, making a richer sound.